Skills happen when you pay attention and do the time. How many times do I hear, “I can’t even draw a stick man!”… Those assholes are hard as hell to draw, are you kidding me!? Leave the stick men to the traditional tattooers.Try drawing something else! You have to put in the time for anything worthwhile, really.

When I was a kid, my dad told me, “As soon as you think you know everything,youdon’t know anything.” You’ll never be the best. Ever. A lot of people have a real problem with this idea, (myself included). It’s irritating and comforting at the same time.

Tattoo by Steve Godoy

When I first started tattooing, about 8-9 years ago, I remember looking at tattoos in magazines and thinking, “Alright, one day when I can tattoo like THIS guy, I’ll have made it.” I’m sure everyone’s been there at some point. It wasn’t very long before I was there. What the hell? The industry had moved ahead as well; quite quickly in fact. Now there are more magazines and websites showcasing amazing tattooers, rubbing my own artistic inadequacies in my face. Fuckers. What an amazing time to tattoo, and yet so frustrating. It just feels like I can never keep up. It’s all perspective I guess. There’s someone starting out somewhere, right?

Tattoo by Art Godoy

Skills, and shit, and moving forward. Moving forward is all we can do, and the skills happen in their own time. If you can’t move forward and improve, well… you’re that “shit” part. Paying homage to the old way doesn’t help you get better. Understanding how they did it and moving on does. Treating something as an absolute only prevents you from accepting new ideas later on.

Tattoo by Mark Lankin

In conclusion, the future of tattooing is some exciting shit, and the present is where it’s at!